Barcelona’s pro-mother tongue project that inverts the classic rule of migration

Sònia Angelats says the classes helped her communicate with her north African students. Photograph: Stephen Burgen/The Guardian

Every immigrant knows that the key to integration is learning the language of their new country. For many the language they brought with them is simply a relic of their former life.

In Barcelona, a project is turning that on its head with the philosophy that no one arrives in a host country empty-handed. They may not yet have a job or much of an education, they may even be staying illegally, but they have a language – often more than one.